Jan 06

iMovie ’09: Video Tour

Posted in: Apple, keynote, Today's Chili, top, video

In this shakey cam tour (sorry) we go over the three most interesting functions in iMovie 09: The globetrotting map animations, an automatic shake stabilizer, and the zoomed in precision editor.

Maps:
• There are 4 versions of maps, each also in a flat mode (along with the original globe). One is a photorealistic map, one is a school map, one has beige continents and one has green continents.
• If you’re adding map animations from scratch, they take a bit of time to render. You have to select a starting and end point (Madrid or Disneyland), and the program will map it.
• Putting two animations back to back, using the same destination and departure city, makes the animation a seamless multi city tour.
• You can update the type of map by dragging the style onto the existing thumbnail in the project line.

Shake Stabilizer:
• It analyzes the entire picture and steadies the motion very, very well.
• If a scene cannot be corrected, because of an overage of movement, iMovie marks the section with a squiggly red line.
• The rendering for this correction has to be done on a case by case or project basis; all the rendering must be done ahead of time and Apple says, “it takes awhile but is worth it”.

Precision Editor:
• Basically, precision editor zooms into the transition between two clips.
• It’s laid out as follows: the upper segment is the first clip, and the bottom segment is the second clip.
• The left side highlights the first and upper clip, because that’s active, and the lower right hand quadrant is also active (as the second clip). Moving the slider inbetween them (the y axis) shifts the transition point. Very easy.

And at long last, slow motion is back.

iMovie 08 was criticized for having a brilliant UI but lacking power, and so many people still use 06 which accepts plug ins. Perhaps 09 is a step in the right direction.

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Jan 06

iPhoto ’09 Video Tour

Posted in: Apple, keynote, steve jobs, Today's Chili, top

Here are a few best features of iPhoto ’09, including Faces and Places, which recognizes people in your albums and the locations you took those photos in.

Cool stuff: separating your photos by people, which you can then scrub (move your mouse) over and see all the images of them you have. iPhoto is smart enough to try and recognize which people are which with semi-decent accuracy, and you’ll have to confirm each one as you go. Once you’re done, you have a corkboard full of Polaroids of the people you know.

Geolocation is great for travelers, and if you go to a lot of different countries, your “Places” section will have a rich map made up of all the pins you’ve been to. You can fill in location data yourself, or if you have an iPhone or other GPS-enabled camera, it’s automatically filled in for you.

Other cool stuff is Facebook and Flickr integration (includes tagging as well), plus themed slideshows. [iPhoto]

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Jan 06

17″ MacBook Pro Unibody First Hands On

Posted in: Apple, imac, keynote, Mac, macbook, NVIDIA, Today's Chili, top

The new 17″ MacBook Pro with a unibody construction and an integrated battery feels thinner than the previous version and really looks beautiful. Check out our gallery to see for yourself.

The 17″ MacBook Pro is basically a supersized 15″ with an Air no battery bottom, which is at the least aesthetically pleasing. But with no battery compartment there is now no way to easily change Ram or Hard drive. So have your #00 Phillips ready.

The unibody construction makes the machine feel much more compact when picking up and overall condenses the already thin casing. It does indeed feel heavier than any other MacBook model but that’s to be expected from a 17″ casing. The trackpad has also been updated to the same no physical button pad found in the other MacBook models and even though the 17″ MacBook Pro is bigger the trackpad has not grown.

The 17″ Glossy LCD looks crisp as it did on the previous version but the new black plastic border makes colors pop just as it does on the 15″ Pro and 13″ MacBook. For some reason apple is only showing the regular glossy LCD model today so we can’t yet report on the new anti-glare model.

Overall the new 17″ MacBook Pro with unibody construction is nothing we haven’t seen from the other models in the MacBook line. With the 15″ MacBook Pro look and the Air’s no battery bottom the new 17″ MacBook pro can now stand proudly inline with its smaller siblings.

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Jan 06

iTunes Gets DRM Free, New Prices, Purchase Over 3G

Posted in: Apple, itunes, Today's Chili, top

iTunes is going DRM free and breaking their single-price rule with three points: 69 cents, 99 cents, and $1.29. Not surprised, given the pressure from other music stores. The iPhone will allow 3G downloads too.

The new prices will come on April 1st. iTunes Plus will initially get 8 million songs at 256kbps, with two million more coming at the end of the quarter. When the process is done, the entire iTunes Store catalog will be available DRM free.

The iPhone will finally get songs purchasing over the 3G network, rather than being limited to Wi-Fi hotspots. The 3G downloads start today. Good news for compulsive Shazam users like me. [Macworld 2009 Coverage]

Changes Coming to the iTunes Store

– All Songs DRM-Free

– Users Can Download Songs Directly Onto iPhone 3G Over Their 3G Network for the Same Price

– In April 2009, Songs on iTunes Will be Available at Three Price Points

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today announced several changes to the iTunes(R) Store (http://www.itunes.com). Beginning today, all four major music labels — Universal Music Group, Sony BMG, Warner Music Group and EMI, along with thousands of independent labels, are now offering their music in iTunes Plus, Apple’s DRM-free format with higher-quality 256 kbps AAC encoding for audio quality virtually indistinguishable from the original recordings. iTunes customers can also choose to download their favorite songs from the world’s largest music catalog directly onto their iPhone(TM) 3G over their 3G network just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price as downloading to their computer. And beginning in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points: 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29, with most albums still priced at $9.99.

“We are thrilled to be able to offer our iTunes customers DRM-free iTunes Plus songs in high quality audio and our iPhone 3G customers the ability to download music from iTunes anytime, anywhere over their 3G network at the same price as downloading to your computer or via Wi-Fi,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “And in April, based on what the music labels charge Apple, songs on iTunes will be available at one of three price points — 69 cents, 99 cents and $1.29 — with many more songs priced at 69 cents than $1.29.”

iTunes offers customers a simple, one-click option to easily upgrade their entire library of previously purchased songs to the higher quality DRM-free iTunes Plus format for just 30 cents per song or 30 percent of the album price. The iTunes Store will begin offering eight million of its 10 million songs in Apple’s DRM-free format, iTunes Plus, today with the remaining two million songs offered in iTunes Plus by the end of March.

iPhone 3G users can now preview and purchase the entire iTunes Store music catalog on their iPhone 3G over their 3G network, just as they do with Wi-Fi today, for the same price and in the same high quality format. Songs purchased on an iPhone will automatically sync to a user’s computer the next time they sync their iPhone.

The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over 10 million songs, over 30,000 TV episodes and over 2,500 films including over 600 in stunning high definition video. With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, the ability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod(R) and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac(R) and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.

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Jan 06

17-inch MacBook Pro is Unibody, $2799

Posted in: Apple, keynote, Mac, macbook, macbook pro, os x, steve jobs, Today's Chili, top

Finally providing a noticeable difference between the MacBook and MacBook Pro, Apple has pushed the Pro’s screen to 17 inches, its price to $2799, and thrown in a high-capacity (non-replaceable!) battery.

The new Pro has the unibody aluminum build—and virtually everything else—in common with its smaller 15″ brother. But now you won’t have to put your fancy new notebook next to the cheaper 13″ variant to see what you’ve paid for. There are precious few under-the-hood upgrades:

Available late this month, it’s just under an inch thick, weighs in at 6.6 pounds, and is claimed to be the “thinnest and lightest” 17″ notebook on the market.

The 1920×1200 screen has LED backlighting standard, with a 140×120 viewing angle, an impressive 700:1 contrast ratio and 60% greater color gamut than the last 17-inch display. There’s also an optional anti-glare coating option for the screen that’ll run you $50.Overall, the specs are mostly identical to the last MBP iteration, with the notable exception of the battery.

Apple says it’s the longest lasting MacBook battery ever—it’s a non-removable lithium polymer battery with “three times” the industry standard lifecycle, courtesy of “adaptive charging.” How long does it last? 7 hours with discrete graphics, 8 hours with integrated graphics. That’s 3 more hours than the previous-gen 17″ MBP. And it’ll cycle through that at least 1000 times with minimal wear.

The new MBP comes in just one base configuration: At $2799, you get the 2.66 ghz processor, 4gb ram, the dual-video card solution, a 320GB HDD and the Superdrive. It’s available for pre-order now.

This is roughly in keeping with the same pattern Apple set in 2006 with the original MacBook Pro, which debuted with a 15-inch screen and saw the two-inch upgrade just a few months later. [Macworld 2009 Coverage]

Apple Introduces 17-inch MacBook Pro With Revolutionary New Built-in Battery That Delivers Eight Hours of Use & 1,000 Recharges

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today unveiled the new 17-inch MacBook(R) Pro featuring a durable and beautiful precision aluminum unibody enclosure, and a revolutionary new built-in battery that delivers up to eight hours of use and up to 1,000 recharges for more than three times the lifespan of conventional notebook batteries. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro has a high resolution LED-backlit display and the same large glass Multi-Touch(TM) trackpad introduced with the new MacBook family in October. In addition, the new 17-inch MacBook Pro includes state of the art NVIDIA graphics and the latest generation Intel Core 2 Duo mobile processors. As part of the industry’s greenest notebook family, the new 17-inch MacBook Pro is made of highly recyclable materials, meets stringent energy efficiency standards and is made without many of the harmful toxins found in other computers.
“We’ve developed new battery technology that is better for the user and better for the environment,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “Apple’s advanced chemistry and innovative technology deliver up to eight hours of use on a full charge cycle and up to 1,000 recharges.”

Apple uses advanced chemistry, intelligent monitoring of the system and battery, and Adaptive Charging technology to create a revolutionary new notebook battery that delivers up to eight hours of wireless productivity on a single charge and up to 1,000 recharges without adding thickness, weight or cost to the MacBook Pro’s incredible design.* The longer battery lifespan equals fewer depleted batteries and less waste, which is better for the environment.

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro includes an ultra-thin, widescreen glossy 1920 x 1200 display with 78 percent more pixels than the 15-inch MacBook Pro and a 60 percent greater color gamut that delivers desktop-quality color in a notebook. The LED-backlit display has brilliant instant-on performance, uses up to 30 percent less energy and eliminates the mercury found in industry standard fluorescent tube backlights.

Measuring just 0.98-inches thin and weighing 6.6 pounds, the 17-inch MacBook Pro is the world’s thinnest and lightest 17-inch notebook. The 17-inch MacBook Pro is the most powerful Mac(R) notebook yet with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors available up to 2.93 GHz, up to 8GB DDR3 main memory and a graphics architecture that allows users to switch between the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor for better battery life and the powerful NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics processor for higher performance. The new 17-inch MacBook Pro includes a 320GB 5400 rpm hard drive standard with a 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive and 128GB and 256GB solid state drives as options. As with the rest of the new MacBook family, the 17-inch MacBook Pro includes a next generation, industry-standard Mini DisplayPort to connect with the new Apple LED Cinema Display featuring a 24-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with a built-in iSight(R) video camera, mic and speakers.

The new 17-inch MacBook Pro joins the aluminum unibody MacBook family in setting new standards for environmentally friendly notebooks with every model achieving EPEAT Gold status.** Each MacBook unibody enclosure is made of highly recyclable aluminum and comes standard with energy efficient LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. The new MacBook family meets stringent Energy Star 4.0 requirements, contains no brominated flame retardants and uses internal cables and components that are PVC-free. The battery in the new 17-inch MacBook Pro provides additional environmental benefit because its extended lifespan means fewer depleted batteries resulting in less waste. Depleted batteries can be replaced for $179 which includes installation and disposal of your old battery in an environmentally responsible manner.

Pricing & Availability
The new 17-inch MacBook Pro will be shipping at the end of January and will be available through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $2,799 (US), and includes:

— 17-inch widescreen LED-backlit 1920 x 1200, glossy display;
— 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 6MB shared L2 cache;
— 1066 MHz front-side bus;
— 4GB 1066 MHz DDR3 SDRAM;
— NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics;
— NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT discrete graphics with 512MB GDDR3 video
memory;
— 320GB Serial ATA hard drive running at 5400 rpm, with Sudden Motion
Sensor;
— a slot-load 8X SuperDrive with double-layer support (DVD+/-R
DL/DVD+/-RW/CD-RW) optical drive;
— Mini DisplayPort for video output (adapters sold separately);
— built-in AirPort Extreme(R) 802.11n wireless networking and Bluetooth
2.1+EDR;
— Gigabit Ethernet port;
— built-in iSight video camera;
— three USB 2.0 ports;
— one FireWire(R) 800 port (FireWire 400 compatible);
— ExpressCard/34 expansion card slot;
— one audio line in and one audio line out port, each supporting both
optical digital and analog;
— glass Multi-Touch trackpad and illuminated keyboard;
— built-in, 95WHr lithium polymer battery; and
— 85 Watt MagSafe(R) Power Adapter.

Build-to-order options for the 17-inch MacBook Pro include a 2.93 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 8GB 1066 MHz DDR 3 memory, 320GB 7200 rpm hard drive, a 128GB or 256GB solid state drive, anti-glare display for $50 (US), Mini DisplayPort to DVI Adapter, Mini DisplayPort to Dual-Link DVI Adapter (for 30-inch DVI display), Mini DisplayPort to VGA Adapter, Apple Remote, Apple MagSafe Airline Adapter and the AppleCare Protection Plan.

*A properly maintained Apple 17-inch MacBook Pro battery is designed to retain 80 percent or more of its original capacity during a lifespan of up to 1,000 recharge cycles. Battery life and charge cycles vary by use and settings. For more information visit
http://www.apple.com/macbookpro/17inch-battery.

**EPEAT is an independent organization that helps customers compare the environmental performance of notebooks and desktops. Products meeting all of the 23 required criteria and at least 75 percent of the optional criteria are recognized as EPEAT Gold products. The EPEAT program was conceived by the US EPA and is based on IEEE 1680 standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer Products. For more information visit http://www.epeat.net.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, MacBook, Multi-Touch, iSight, Apple Store, AirPort Extreme, FireWire and MagSafe are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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Jan 06

iWork ’09 Includes iWork.com, Costs $79 + Subscription

Posted in: Apple, imac, keynote, Mac, macbook, Software, steve jobs, Today's Chili, top

Just as rumored last week, Apple is taking iWork ’09 online with file hosting and group editing services. Think of it as MobileMe, but for your documents. And that’s not all.

The suite is getting a pretty strong set of new features— some fluffy, but many meaty and delicious. See the full list, updated as we get new info, below. But first, the cloud.

Pretty much the whole suite gets towed online here— Pages, Numbers and Keynote all now feature the same online storage and collaboration capabilities, including editing, notation and conversion services. There are two modes of access, too: An online interface, at iWork.com, and transparent integration into the actual apps.

The suite is clearly intended to take on Microsoft SharePoint and Google Docs, but approaches online document management somewhat differently. Rather than editing and organizing documents only through a web interface, Apple has integrated the online aspect into the familiar native iLife apps as well.

New Features:

Keynote:

Motion Move: This Keynote effect will create object transitions between slides, like when teenagers morph into werewolves on low-budget TV shows.

Interstitial slideshows: This interrupts your presentations to display standalone slideshows. Thanks?

Text transitions: There are some news ones! You can slide, twirl, shimmer, etc. All the things that made you hate PowerPoint can now help you hate Keynote, too.

Keynote iPhone Remote: This $0.99 app lets cue your Keynote presentation over Wi-Fi, from your iPhone. It’s pretty basic, but also has the capability to display presenter’s notes.

Integrated online file storage: Simultaneous group editing with revision control, a la Google Docs.

Pages:

Fullscreen: Pages should have always had a fullscreen-ish option. Now it does!

Advanced outlining, listing: A sensible alternative to a standalone outlining/planning application, it’s meant help you plan out longer projects. It’s also dynamic, so any embedded document links will automatically update on changes.

Mail merge: Mail merging with Numbers! Again, long overdue, but at least now you can easily do your Xmas cards on your Mac.

MathType: Are you a scientist, mathematician or student? No? Then this doesn’t matter for you. The whole suite now has many more functions and full MathType capabilities, for writing formulas into your documents.

Numbers:

Boring! MathType is the biggest addition here, but users also get drag and drop formulas, new chart types, multiple axes, trend lines, and error bars, along with dynamic linked charts. And lest we forget, lots of templates.

iWork 2009 is available now from the Apple Store for $79, a $99 “family pack” for five licenses, or $49 with the purchase of any Mac. The subscription fee for iWork.com will be announced at a later date. Press release below.

[Macworld 2009 Coverage]

Apple Unveils iWork ’09

Introduces iWork.com Public Beta for Online Document Sharing

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced iWork(R) ’09, the latest version of Apple’s popular office productivity suite, which adds powerful new features without sacrificing Apple’s legendary ease of use. Keynote(R) ’09 introduces advanced object transitions, which automatically animate objects with a choice of effects and Magic Move, an innovative way to create sophisticated animations just by applying a simple transition. Pages(R) ’09 features a new Full Screen view that helps you focus on your writing and an outline mode to organize your thoughts. Numbers(R) ’09 introduces a quick way to group and summarize data and a dramatically simplified way to create complex formulas. Apple also announced iWork.com public beta, a new service Apple is developing to share iWork ’09 documents online.

“Millions of Mac users have fallen in love with iWork,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With iWork ’09, Apple continues to demonstrate that innovation is possible in office productivity software, and that creating impressive presentations, documents and spreadsheets doesn’t need to be complicated.”

Keynote ’09 introduces Magic Move, which allows you to apply a simple transition to automatically animate the position, scale, rotation and opacity of any image, graphic or text that is repeated on consecutive slides. New text transitions morph text from one slide to the next. New advanced object transitions animate objects off one slide while simultaneously animating objects onto the next slide with a choice of effects. 3D charts now include cylinder shapes, beveled-edge pie charts, new textures and four new 3D build effects. The Keynote Remote application, sold separately in the App Store, lets you view slides and presenter notes and control your presentation with your iPhone(TM) or iPod(R) touch.

Pages ’09 Full Screen view lets you focus on your document without any distractions and reveals the menus, format bar and page navigator only when needed. Outline mode includes templates that help to quickly build the framework for your document and allow you to collapse, expand and rearrange elements, even inline graphics, with ease. MathType 6 support lets engineers, mathematicians and students easily add sophisticated equations to their documents and EndNote X2 integration lets users add and edit comprehensive bibliographic references. Pages ’09 also includes 40 new Apple-designed templates, including newsletters, posters, certificates and coordinated stationery.

Numbers ’09 provides a great way to quickly categorize data by column, which you can then collapse, expand and summarize to easily make sense of large sets of data. Numbers ’09 makes formula writing dramatically easier with an enhanced function browser which includes built-in help for over 250 functions, and visual placeholders with tool tips that explain each variable in a formula. Use the new Formula List to view all formulas in your entire spreadsheet and jump directly to any formula cell with a single click. Expanded chart options include mixed chart types, two-axis charts, and the ability to apply trend lines and error bars. Numbers charts pasted into Pages or Keynote are linked, and can be updated with a single click.

Apple also introduced iWork.com public beta, a new service Apple is developing to share iWork ’09 documents online. Using your Apple ID, just click the iWork.com icon in the Keynote, Pages or Numbers toolbar to upload your document and invite others to view it online. Viewers can provide comments and notes, and download a copy of your document in iWork, Microsoft Office or PDF formats. A consolidated online list of all your shared documents indicates when your viewers have posted comments.

Pricing & Availability

iWork ’09 is now available through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers for a suggested retail price of $79 (US). iWork ’09 is available for $49 (US) with the purchase of any Mac(R) through the Apple Store, Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers.

iWork ’09 requires Mac OS(R) X version 10.4.11 or Mac OS X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, PowerPC G5, or 500 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), 32MB of video RAM, QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later, a DVD drive for installation and 1.2GB of available disk space. iWork.com Public Beta is not included with the purchase of iWork ’09. Account setup and activation are required. Fees may apply. Internet access and iWork ’09 are required. Terms of service apply and are available at http://www.apple.com/legal/iworkcom/en/terms.html.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iWork, Keynote, Pages, Numbers, iPhone, iPod, Apple Store and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090106/AQTU044)

SOURCE Apple

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Jan 06

Apple Revamps iLife for ’09: $79 for iPhoto Facial Recognition, Improved iMovie and More

Posted in: Apple, imac, keynote, Mac, macbook, Software, steve jobs, Today's Chili, top

Today at Macworld 2009, Apple showed off a new iPhoto with true facial recognition, a better iMovie and other iLife updates—$79 solo, $99 for family, requires Leopard, available late January.

It’s a good solid upgrade full of very nice features. One big catch, though: You need Leopard for it to run. Here’s the rundown, app by app:

iPhoto stuff:


Faces: Goes through and identifies distinct faces, automatically tagging them so you don’t have to slog through all your photos yourself.



Places: Geotagging, basically. iPhoto gives you a map with pins of where photos are taken. If your camera or iPhone encodes GPS info, iPhoto can figure out if the shot was taken at a particular landmark.



Facebook and Flickr support: Automatically upload your pics straight to your service of choice. (So glad to hear that one!) iPhoto will even grab Facebook image tags and use them in Faces. Flickr geo tags can be used in Places.




Themes: Page layouts for slideshows, with different fonts, caption boxes, etc., with crazy transitions. You can save slideshows to iPhone and iPod touch. It can detect faces in shots, so that they are centered during the slideshow. There’s a geo-tag slideshow called Travel Books that looks and acts like a scrapbook.

iMovie stuff: Sounds like they’re finally putting back some power functionality—let’s hope so…


Precision editor: It’s an expanded timeline for audio and video, for tighter cutting.



Advanced drag and drop: You can drag one video on top of another and get advanced context menus.

Themes: Select a theme and it automatically sets style for titles, transitions and credits.



Advanced travel maps: Put in starting and ending points, and it renders a 3D globe of where you traveled.



Video stabilization: Helps you fix shaky shooting when you’re editing. Takes some processing time, but the results are amazing.

Other editing features: Skimming, seeing edits (before and after cuts), overlaying audio.



New project library: Organize videos in a more logical way with helpful thumbs.

Garageband stuff:
Yes, Garageband is still getting developed, even though I think it’s been a while since even Walt Mossberg recorded a solo project. (Knowing Pogue’s talents, he probably has a nice ProTools rig, or at least Logic.) Good thing this version is apparently looking for new musical recruits…



Learn to play: It has an instructional feature that helps teach you how to play instruments like guitar and piano.



Artist Lessons: Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, John Fogerty, Sting and other FOJ jam for your edification. Only $5 a lesson. Hmmm. (More on this.)

There are also updates to iWeb and iDVD, but Apple didn’t feel the need to show them off, so they must not be terribly exciting. Here’s the press release:

Apple Introduces iLife ’09

Major Upgrades to iPhoto, iMovie & GarageBand

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Apple(R) today introduced iLife(R) ’09, which features major upgrades to iPhoto(R), iMovie(R) and GarageBand(R), and includes iDVD(R) and an updated version of iWeb(TM). iPhoto ’09 builds on the ability to automatically organize photos into Events by adding Faces and Places as breakthrough new ways to easily organize and manage your photos. iMovie ’09 expands on the revolutionary super fast movie creation introduced in iMovie ’08 by adding the depth users want through powerful easy-to-use new features such as the incredible new Precision Editor, video stabilization, advanced drag and drop, and animated travel maps. GarageBand ’09 introduces a whole new way to help you learn to play piano and guitar with 18 basic lessons and optional lessons from top artists such as Sara Bareilles, John Fogerty, Norah Jones and Sting. iLife ’09 is included with every new Mac(R) purchase and available as a $79 upgrade for existing users.

“iLife continues to be one of the biggest reasons our customers choose to get a Mac,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “With iLife ’09, we’ve made working with photos, making movies and learning to play music a lot more fun, and iMovie users are especially going to love the advanced but easy-to-use new features.”

iPhoto ’09 makes it even easier to browse and search photos, not only by when they were shot (Events), but by who appears in them (Faces) and where they were taken (Places). iPhoto automatically scans photos to detect people’s faces and when you assign a name to any face iPhoto will automatically find more pictures of that person. The library can be searched by name or browsed using the new Faces View. Places automatically imports photo location data from a GPS-enabled camera or any iPhone(TM) or you can manually assign a location to any photo, group of photos or event. Once iPhoto knows where photos were taken, you can easily explore them with a simple search or an interactive map. iPhoto ’09 lets you easily publish photos to Facebook or Flickr. Photos published to Facebook include assigned names, and name tags added on Facebook sync back to iPhoto. You can also share photos by creating a themed slideshow to play on your Mac, iPhone or iPod(R), or create a beautiful travel book, complete with customized maps of your journey.

iMovie ’09 adds powerful, yet easy-to-use new features to let you create a movie quickly, or add refinements and special effects to your project if you have more time. Drag and drop one clip on top of another to reveal new advanced editing options, including replace, insert, audio only, and even picture-in-picture or green screen. With the revolutionary Precision Editor, you can skim and click on a magnified filmstrip to view clips up close and fine tune any edit, like identifying precisely how much to keep, where to cut, use sound from one clip with video from another and more. iMovie ’09 analyzes video and reduces camera shake in clips when added to your project. New titles, transitions, cinematic effects, speed changes and animated travel maps add professional polish to your movie.

GarageBand ’09, the updated version of Apple’s popular software used by millions to play and record music, now gives budding musicians a fun new way to learn to play piano and guitar. Basic Lessons let you learn the fundamentals at your own pace with Apple instructors in beautiful HD video synchronized to animated instruments and notation. Artist Lessons feature original artists showing how to play their hit songs with everything from finger positions and techniques to the story behind the song. Choose from lessons by popular artists including: Sara Bareilles, Colbie Caillat, John Fogerty, Ben Folds, Norah Jones, Sarah McLachlan, Fall Out Boy’s Patrick Stump, OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder and Sting. Artist Lessons are sold separately at the new GarageBand Lesson Store, available inside the GarageBand ’09 application. GarageBand ’09 also includes exciting new guitar amp and stomp-box effects, and Magic GarageBand Jam that lets you play along with a virtual band that you create.

iLife ’09 includes iWeb ’09 for authoring custom websites and iDVD ’09 for creating DVDs. iWeb ’09 adds new iWeb Widgets, such as iSight(R) video and photos, a countdown timer, YouTube video and RSS feeds. New integrated FTP publishing allows you to publish your website to virtually any hosting service and updates to your site can now be automatically added to your Facebook profile.

Pricing & Availability

iLife ’09 will be available this month for a suggested retail price of $79 (US) through the Apple Store(R) (http://www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers. The iLife Up-To-Date upgrade package is available to all customers who purchased a qualifying new Mac system from Apple or an Apple Authorized Reseller on or after January 6, 2009 for a shipping and handling fee of $9.95 (US). Artist Lessons are available through the GarageBand Lesson Store for $4.99 (US) each.

iLife ’09 requires Mac OS(R) X version 10.5.6 or later, a Macintosh(R) computer with an Intel processor, a PowerPC G5 or 867 MHz or faster PowerPC G4, 512MB of RAM (1GB recommended), QuickTime(R) 7.5.5 or later (included), a DVD drive for installation and 4GB of available disk space. iPhoto print services and GarageBand Artist Lessons are available in select countries. Full system requirements and more information on iLife ’09 can be found at http://www.apple.com/ilife.

Apple ignited the personal computer revolution in the 1970s with the Apple II and reinvented the personal computer in the 1980s with the Macintosh. Today, Apple continues to lead the industry in innovation with its award-winning computers, OS X operating system and iLife and professional applications. Apple is also spearheading the digital media revolution with its iPod portable music and video players and iTunes online store, and has entered the mobile phone market with its revolutionary iPhone.

(C) 2009 Apple Inc. All rights reserved. Apple, the Apple logo, Mac, Mac OS, Macintosh, iLife, iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand, iDVD, iWeb, iPhone, iPod, iSight, Apple Store and QuickTime are trademarks of Apple. Other company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

[Macworld 2009 Full Coverage]

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Jan 06

Macworld 2009 Keynote Liveblog Archive

Posted in: Apple, LiveBlog, Today's Chili, top

Here we go. The last Apple Macworld keynote ever.

7:42 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It’s cold, it’s almost raining. It’s San Francisco. We’re here outside Moscone, waiting to go in and see Phil Schiller do his best Steve Jobs imperso ation.

7:57 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: All the old familar media faces are here (or are on their way). The line isn’t any shorter than usual, despite the non-Jobsness of the event. Maybe that spectacle plus the fact that this is the last year is bringin out the lookeeloos?

7:59 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: In other news, MFing danishes!

8:00 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: To give you an idea of what it’s like to wait in line at one of these things, picture Best Buy. Then add in Black Friday. Then, imagine it’s these people’s JOBS to get in as early as possible. Mix in some fear, sweat, jetlag and desperation. Stir.

8:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Fifty five minutos left. That means fifty five minutes left for a pee break.

8:19 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

8:20 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen:
I see a 15 year old looking kid with a gigantic camera weighing him down. Watch out kid, sculiosis is a bitch.

8:25 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Some of you are just getting to work now. You lucky bastards.

8:30 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: I wonder if Phil has different musical taste than Steve. No more Coldplay? Jack Johnson? JOHN MAYER???

8:31 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: If this is your first Macworld with us, here’s the deal. Post your three guesses of what you think will be announced over on the main Giz page.

8:47 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Don’t forget the Keynote Bingo. Play now and you can win a free pizza! FREE. PIZZA. Plus, it’s fun.

8:49 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

8:49 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: We’re in and we’re seated. The last minute stragglers are grabbing their seats while The Killers is playing. Guess the music isn’t going to be too different

8:52 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Remember that photo? Macworld 1999!

8:53 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: I think I see three bald guys. Not quite four.

8:53 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

8:55 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The music is actually extra good this time. Good job, whoever picks these things. Heard some MGMT earlier too, which Adrian approves of.

8:56 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

8:56 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Staring at these damn pizzas in our keynote bingo is making me hungry.

8:57 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Man, NYTimes reporter Brad Stone gets to sit in the VIP area…lucky duck.

8:58 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: What do we think is coming? New iMacs, updated MacBook Pro, and Apple renaming their phones coms.

8:58 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

8:59 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Have you checked out our Choose Your Own Apple CEO Adventure? You should!

8:59 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

8:59 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Coldplay is being played and Phil Schiller is putting his pants on, getting ready to take the stage.

9:00 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:02 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Everyone’s expecting Phil to come out on stage, but what if he comes out from the back and runs up? Like a Vegas magician.

9:03 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:


CNBC’s Jim Goldman, dapper as always.

9:03 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Weird, this Coldplay song doesn’t sound like the one from the album. Are they BEHIND THE STAGE, playing live??

9:03 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It’s starting. Phil Schiller takes the stage. He’s NOT wearing a black turtleneck, but a shirt and pants. Jeans, to be exact.

9:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: No weight loss problems here.

9:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil thanks the crowd from the “bottom of [his] heart”. “It’s an incredibly exciting time at Apple.”

9:05 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil shows off the store they opened last year in Beijing, a store in Germany, and a store in Australia. People applaud politely.

9:05 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



9:05 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil: “I can’t think of one company in the world with a store that beautiful…”

9:06 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: 3.4 Million visitors go to Apple stores every week, apparently. “They do it, because it’s such a great place to shop. They also want to try out and touch the iPhone, the iPod touch, and the Mac.” The consummate salesman, Phil.

9:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Last year the had the biggest fiscal year, selling 9.7 million Macs. “The hardware, the Leopard, all the amazing applications.”

9:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Today they are focusing on the Mac, and Phil’s announcing three new things.

9:08 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:08 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: First, iLife ‘09. iPhoto, iMovie. “Some people up north may think they have something good, but it’s nowhere as good as iLife.”

9:08 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:09 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Last year Apple introduced the “Events” concept, which organizes your photos into events like birthday parties, or office parties. With iPhoto ‘09, they’re adding two things. *Sparse applause*.

9:09 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





9:10 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: First is Faces. You can organize photos by people, and when you click on the Faces on the left, it’s a thumbnailed board of people in your photos. It uses “face detection”, and automatically detects faces, which you can name later.

9:11 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



9:11 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Once you typed in a name, iPhoto will create a snapshot of the person (”Liz”), and then uses face recognition to find other instances of Liz in other photos you’ve taken. You can confirm that yes, this is Liz, in your other photos iPhoto think are of Liz.

9:11 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



9:11 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: One great use for this? Your “naked” photos. What easier way to organize your collection than by stars?

9:12 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The other way to organize your photos is “Places”, which sorts by where snaps are taken. When you click the Places icon, iPhoto gives you a map with pins of where photos are taken.

9:13 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It uses GPS geotagging, found in some cameras now and cellphones “like the most advanced phone, the iPhone”. Shameless, Phil.

9:13 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:









9:13 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: When you take a photo, the camera attaches a longitude/latitude coordinate to your photos, then the iPhone attaches a place, a state and a country to them.

9:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





9:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: “What about all those photos I took that didn’t have a geotag in it?” When you click on an event, you can update the field under the event to enter the event location. iPhoto already has a database of what you’re typing in, such as Yosemite, and can assign a geotag to all photos in an event once you’ve chosen one.

9:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: So far Phil’s actually doing a decent job.

9:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: In addition to street maps from Google Maps, there’s satellite maps that you can see where you’ve taken photos—even across different events.

9:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There’s also now built-in support for Facebook & Flickr.

9:16 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



9:16 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: If you upload a photo to Facebook, people can tag people (like Facebook allows) and that gets synced back to your iPhoto, so you can identify people who you don’t know. Why you took a photo of that person in the first place is not my problem.

9:17 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: For Flickr, the geotags from iPhoto also propagate, so Flickr users can see where you’ve taken your pics.

9:17 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Flickr and Facebook support



9:18 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Then there’s Themes, which Phil is demonstrating as a slideshow of photos moving in and out, in sync to the Charlie Brown song.

9:18 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Themes also actually use face detection to properly orient the photos so that faces are in the middle.

9:18 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Face detection center’s slideshow photos

9:19 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: 3d effects from photos in slideshows



9:19 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Another cool theme is the “shattered” theme, which has transitions between photos that break up a photo into individual pieces and recomposes it. Then there’s iPhone syncing, which also supports themed slideshows.

9:20 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Another new feature inside Books, which you can use to print out, is maps. It shows maps of where you took photos and can be printed out just like you printed out books before.

9:20 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:21 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil’s now demoing iPhoto live on an iMac. First, he shows Faces. If you scrub across each person’s face inside the group of faces (the thumbnails), you can see each individual photo in the collection. It’s also cropped to the actual face, using face detection. If you hold option, you can see the entire photo.

9:22 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Whenever iPhoto sees an unnamed face, all you have to do is name them and the next time iPhoto shows the same person, it’ll ask you to confirm whether or not that’s the person you just named.

9:24 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Another cool thing is selecting a group of people, dragging it onto the left column, and iPhoto will create a smart album of those people. Whenever you’ve confirmed that yes, a photo is one of this group of people, it’ll be added to the smart album. Useful for your family or your friends.

9:25 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Then there’s browsing by maps. View a map and you can click a particular pin to show all the photos from that location.

9:26 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: No boom yet from Phil. Maybe later, when he announces hardware? If there is hardware?

9:26 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:27 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil’s now demoing zooming into maps, down to the level of satellite imagery showing a couple pins. Usually Steve doesn’t go THIS in depth of software, which makes us think Phil is kind of buying time with this amount of detail.

9:27 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:28 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Some lady with a purse is standing up right in front of me.

9:28 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil: Now, new iMovie ‘09. *Polite applause*

9:28 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:29 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Last year, Apple transitioned into the new version of iMovie with iMovie ‘08.

9:29 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Since it was new, iMovie ‘08 didn’t have all the features that older customers wanted. This year, Phil says they’ve added in a bunch of features that should please everyone.

9:29 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:30 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Among the features are Precision editor, advanced drag and drop (context sensitive menus), and themes.

9:30 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Also, animated travel maps. (INDIANA JONES??) There’s 2D and 3D maps of where you’ve traveled in your videos. Sweet.

Plus, there’s automatic image stabilization in your videos in case you have shaky fingers.

9:31 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





9:31 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil is inviting up Randy Ubillos, Chief Architect of Video Applications, on stage to do the demo. He is the guy who “made” the new iMovie ‘08 last year.

9:32 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:32 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Randy is showing in dragging and dropping movies onto the timeline, inserting (with context sensitive menus).

9:33 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: You can grab “audio only” from a clip and overlay it onto other clips. The demo he’s using is a 10 year old kid overacting.

9:34 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Inserting audio only

9:34 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Zoomed in editing focused on the transition; lower bar is after the transition/edit point, upper bar is before

9:35 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now, demoing other editing features like skimming, seeing edits (before and after cuts), and other features like overlaying audio. A bit more advanced than iMovie ‘08.

9:35 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:36 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now Randy is demoing video stabilization using footage shot in a jeep.

9:36 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: The project library has thumbs now

9:36 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Once iMovie has scanned the entire clip of what you want, and when you add it, image stabilization is automatically applied. It’s actually quite good, at least with this jeep example and this gazelle example.

9:38 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Another clip he’s showing is of a Leopard climbing down from a tree. Choosing “clip adjustment” will bring up a speed slider in order to slow down the clip so you can see your video immediately slower.

9:38 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Video motion stabilization! takes time but looks *amazing*:


Slow motion:


Video effects:

9:38 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Other effects you can do are X-Ray and aged film, which gives your video the gimmicky look you were wanting, but otherwise couldn’t get.

9:39 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now, Indiana Jones-like map rendering, showing starting and ending locations for your different clips. If you went through multiple cities, you can transition through all of them (both 3D globe and 2D map).

9:40 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Map styles:







9:40 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Themes

9:41 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: A sample clip plays that looks quite like Meercat Manor. This is only a subset of new features in iMovie ‘09, but there’s no time to show more. Randy leaves the stage, Phil comes back on.

9:41 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil: “Isn’t that incredible. Amazing software.”

9:42 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:42 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The last app he’s going to talk about in iLife ‘09 is Garageband. It’s the most “exciting” feature, and a “true breakthrough”, which will help people to play a musical instrument. It’s called “Learn to play.”

9:42 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Learn to play.

9:42 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: When you fire it up, there’s an instructor and a representation of the instrument facing you. Essentially, an instrument tutor. Phil’s going to play a clip of one of the lessons.

9:44 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:44 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Some guy named Tim is showing you how to play the guitar, and now the piano. Multi-talented, this Tim. There’s notations as well as just plain virtual instruments. You have 9 basic guitar and 9 basic piano lessons built in.

9:44 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: NEW FEATURE. Artist lessons!

9:45 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Who are some of the artists? JOHN…Fogerty. And Cobie. Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy. STING, who will not only teach you to play the guitar, but have sex for 10 continuous years.

9:46 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: On the Piano, Sarah McLachlan, Ryan from OneRepublic, Norah Jones, but no Chris Martin from Coldplay, whom I will never admit having intercourse with

9:47 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: A sample lesson from John Fogerty sounds like a grandpa rambling, instead of actually getting down to teaching you the lesson. Hurry the F up, gramps!

9:48 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Artist Lessons:











9:48 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Man, Fogerty is really just going off the edge here. This is less of a lesson than an unplugged version of his song.

9:49 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There’s also new versions of iWeb and iDVD, and iLife ‘09 still ships free on all Macs. $79 for upgrades, or a family pack for $99 that’s usable on five computers. Ships “late January.”

9:49 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now, iWork ‘09.

9:50 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: “I made this presentation in iWork ‘09, so you know it’s really solid.”

9:50 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: In Keynote, you can set up objects in slides, and the software will do the work in moving objects between slides. With magic move, it’ll transition whichever object you want automatically, like rotating and resizing.

9:51 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The sample Phil’s showing is with playing cards: they’re messed up in the first slide, and then they’re neat and arranged in the second with the proper transition inbetween.

9:51 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:52 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: More transitions like perspective move and object pushup add flair to your slides. There’s also text transitions, which he’s using to show the transition between Bush to Obama.

9:52 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:53 AM ON JAN 6 2009



9:53 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Next, chart animations, such as the “crane move”, like a crane camera flying in to show bar graphs move up while the perspective changes. Rotate and grow for bar graphs and zoom for charts. USA Today, pay attention!

9:54 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Themes, again, are present in Keynote. You can pick a theme and it’ll make all your slides match in the same theme (borders and fonts and other small things).

9:54 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil’s announcing Keynote remote, an app on the iPhone/iPod Touch, which can show you your slide plus notes, and can control your Keynote presentation right on the device.

9:54 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





9:55 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Keynote Remote is $0.99 in the app store, and “we’ve already given it five star reviews.”

9:55 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Keynote remote









9:56 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Pages fullscreen

9:56 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Next, Pages (Apple’s Microsoft word). There’s a fullscreen view to make everything else disappear, focus in on what you’re doing and tune out everything else.

9:57 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Second, dynamic outlines. In Pages ‘09, you can start in outline view before you actually start writing, letting you reorganize thoughts and seconds.

9:57 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:57 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen:
Then there’s Mail merge with Numbers, which can connect with tables and lists in Numbers.

9:57 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

9:58 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Other connectivity features hook up with MathType and EndNote, two mathy apps.

9:58 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: And of course, 40 new themes. Themes seem to be really present in every app Phil is introducing today.

9:59 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: In Numbers ‘09, “we’ve focused on adding features that customers have told us they wanted.”

9:59 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Templates for pages:









10:00 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Numbers, the equivalent of Excel, has new Table categories and 250 functions (with function view), which has the appropriate mouseovers and color coding to make things easier to understand. Advanced chart options, like mixed chart types, multiple axis charts, trend lines, and error bars. Pay attention, accountants!

10:01 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: When you paste a graph or chart into Pages (Word), you can also “link” the graph together to the actual Numbers doc, so it updates whenever you change your formatting in Numbers.

10:02 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: And with that, iWork ‘09 is finished. $79 for one license, $99 for a family pack for 5 people. If you purchase iWork with a new Mac, it’s $49. Ships today.

10:02 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Numbers







10:03 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





10:03 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The new iLife NEEDS Mac OS X Leopard, and if you want to upgrade to iLife, iWork and Leopard together, you can get a Mac Box Set for $169. It ships in late January when iLife ships.

10:03 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There’s one other thing with iWork that Apple is doing that’s called iWork.com. The beta will be announced soon.

10:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: “iWork.com is a service for you to share with other people. You can notify other people that you’ve shared documents, and collaborate on them. They can review and edit documents online.”

10:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: You can download a copy and your collaborators can download a copy, and each person can add notes and comments which are seen by everybody.

10:04 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Here’s the demo of how it works.

10:05 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



10:05 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: First, Phil launches a Pages document. He’d like someone to give him new comments. He clicks the iWork.com button and can directly share with people from the iWork application.

10:06 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:06 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Pages then creates the differently formatted versions of the document and uploads it to iWork.com. The person who’s viewing now sees an invite in his or her email.

10:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The invite links her, through her browser, to iWork.com, and opens up the Pages document online. The pages doc actually looks like pages, where she can leave a note for Phil online.

10:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





10:07 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There can be multiple people viewing the document, all leaving notes to each other on the right hand side about the whole document. You can then download the doc directly from the website. What you can’t do is edit documents online–it looks like you have to download it and edit it offline.

10:08 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: To see other people’s comments that they’ve created online, you can click “show shared documents” in Pages, and view the documents you’ve uploaded. A blue dot shows a new note that you need to read.

10:09 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: By going back to the shared pages list, you can see the Keynote/Pages/Numbers docs you’ve shared, including all the notes people gave.

10:09 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Customers can sign up free for the beta, but it will be a fee-based service once iWork.com launches.

10:10 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Another use besides sharing documents with others is sharing documents with yourself, seeing your docs anywhere. It ships today.

10:10 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:10 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The third thing, one more thing, is the new 17-inch MacBook Pro.

10:11 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: “Last year was a big year in MacBooks.” All the Macbooks have a version with the precision unibody enclosure, including the MacBook Air, the MacBook and the MacBook Pro.

10:12 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: “For the last 8 months running, if you look at all consumer laptops sold on that list, the MacBook has been #1.”

10:12 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:12 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





10:12 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The 17-inch MacBook Pro, is the .98 inches thin, 6.6 pounds, and is the world’s lightest and thinnest 17-inch notebook. There’s a 17-inch LED backlit display, 1920×1200. “This is the best display we’ve ever shipped in a notebook.” 700:1 contrast ratio, 60% greater color gamut than the previous 17-inch display.

10:13 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There’s a $50 anti-glare option on the glossy screens for higher-end customers. They have to remove the bezel from the front, and build it in, which explains the $50 surcharge.

10:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The left side has three USB ports, Mini DisplayPOort, Firewire 800 (no 400), digital audio in/out and Expresscard. In addition to Gigabit Ethernet and the Magsafe.

10:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Of course, there’s the glass trackpad, four-finger gestures and multi-button support.

10:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.93 GHz Dual Core, 6MB L2 Cache, 8GB memory at 1066 MHz DDR3.

10:14 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Like the 15-inch, there’s both integrated 9400M and 9600M graphics cards. 320GB HDD standard, or 256GB SSD upgradable drives.

10:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





10:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It works with the 24-inch Cinema Display using the three ports (power, USB and Mini Displayport).

10:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:15 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: “We challenged our engineers to create the longest battery life ever, but keep the laptop just as thin and just as lite.”

10:16 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: An engineer video follows. Bob Mansfield of Mac development explains the new battery. The new battery lasts up to EIGHT hours on a single charge, and can be charged 1000 times.

10:17 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The key to a new battery is making it bigger, but the challenge is where to find the space to put it. If you design a removable battery, you have “a lot of wasted space”. But if you make a non-removable battery, Apple was able to create a 40% larger battery in the same space.

10:18 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Instead of using batteries that look like cylindrical cells, which has wasted space, Apple’s made an entire block of batteries that take up all the space possible.

10:18 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:









10:18 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The lifespan of the cells are three times the industry standard.

10:19 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There’s a new concept of “adaptive charging”, which reduces wear and tear on the battery while charging. That’s “more than three times the notebook batteries in the industr today.” Now, there’s a chip in the battery that talks to each individual cell and adjust the current individually in order to maximize lifespan.

10:19 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam: Battery making process:









10:20 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The new battery is recyclable and can run up to five years, meaning less batteries wind up in landfills. But, it also means you can’t replace your battery at home without taking the entire thing apart.

10:21 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen:
Again, Apple claims up to eight hours on one charge.

10:21 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:21 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: On the 9600GT, it’s down to 7 hours, but using the 9400M integrated graphics, 8 hours. That’s three hours longer than the previous 17-inch MacBook Pro, giving it a 60% increase in battery life.

10:22 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Apple has a take-back and recycling program if you ever do need to exchange the battery.

10:22 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



10:22 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The 17-inch MacBook Pro comes in one configuration for $2799, the same price as before.

10:22 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It starts shipping late January.

10:23 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:



10:23 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: On the environmental side, it’s EPEAT Gold, and arsenic, BFR, mercury, PVC free, plus has 34% smaller packaging and is “highly recyclable.”

10:23 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:24 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: And now, a TV ad for the 17-inch. It looks like the previous “green” ad, and says you can recharge it up to a thousand times, over five years, three times as long as batteries in other notebooks.

10:24 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: One last thing…

10:24 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:25 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It’s iTunes. iTunes, the music store, was started in 2003. And now, in less than six years, they’ve sold 6 billion songs.

10:25 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: There’s 10 million songs available, and there’s 75 million accounts with credit cards.

10:26 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now, iTunes is the number one channel with music in the United States. What’s new? Three things.

10:27 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: First, the price. In the last six years, they’ve had one pricing model for the entire market. There’s now three pricing tiers. $0.99 cents, $0.69 cents, and $1.29. Depending on how the music labels offer music, Apple will price accordingly. This comes in April.

10:27 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Second, iTunes Plus. It’s the way that Apple offers music DRM-free. You can play it on as many computers as you own, and has 256 kbps AAC encoding (better encoded). You can upgrade your entire purchased library to iTunes plus.

10:28 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Starting today, 8 million (of 10 million) songs are now DRM free. By the end of Q1 2009, all 10 million songs in iTunes will be DRM free.

10:28 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: The third new thing is with the iPhone.

10:28 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:29 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now, the iTunes Wi-Fi music store is compatible with 3G, meaning it’s just called the iTunes music store. It’s the same price as on the Wi-Fi, the same selection, downloadable anywhere you are. (Same quality as well.)

10:29 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:30 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: You can purchase or preview music anywhere, and sync the music back to your computer when you get home, same as you did before. This starts today.

10:30 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Since Apple’s ending on music, “we want to come back to remember why we do this. We love great music.”

10:31 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Today, they’re going to show off an artist that’s gotten 15 Grammy awards, 2 Emmy awards, and has sold over 100 albums.

10:32 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: It’s Tony Bennett, sliding onto stage with a floating platform, singing “The Best is Yet To Come.”

10:32 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:





10:33 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Woooo, Tony Bennett.

10:35 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Now, a second song about San Francisco.

10:36 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Anyone get Bingo yet?

10:37 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: A standing ovation for Mr. Tony.

10:37 AM ON JAN 6 2009
B. Lam:

10:38 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Phil’s back, and is thanking his family and his friends at Apple. “Enjoy the rest of the show and check out iLife, iWork and the 17-inch MacBook Pro.” Stay tuned for our hands on of these!

10:38 AM ON JAN 6 2009
Jason Chen: Thanks again for reading, and head over to the main Gizmodo page soon for our hands on impressions! Thanks!

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Jan 06

Giz Liveblog Pizza Bingo: Follow the Keynote Here, Win Free Pizza

Posted in: Today's Chili, top

The Giz Liveblog Pizza Bingo lives! Follow the Macworld 2009 keynote liveblog and win a free pizza like Maximillian Hill. Here are the instructions:

• Print out the bingo card (click on image for a larger version).

• Follow our MacBook 2008 liveblog event and take note of the timestamp as the event in the bingo card happens.

• You can shout bingo if you fill out one line or, alternatively, one of the 2 x 2 brick groups.

• When you get a bingo, quickly send us an email including the events and their timestamps from our liveblog to tips@gizmodo.com. Include “MW2009 Giz Liveblog Pizza Bingo” in the subject, so we can spot your entry easily.

The last time we did this, lots of people forgot to put the timestamps from our liveblog. You must put these to participate.

The first person who sends us a bingo wins the prize: One free pizza (if there’s pizza internet ordering where you are located, that is). Nothing like an edible prize to warm up my heart and my stomach. [Macworld 2009 coverage]

I just updated the bingo card because there was a mistake. Instead of “New iMac” it has to say “New iMac 28”.

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Jan 06

Why Apple Keynotes Are On Tuesday

Posted in: Apple, feature, Today's Chili, top

Later today we’ll see new Apple gear. Cultists know that Apple announces news then. But most don’t realize why. So I poked around and found out the answer:

Apple news turns out to be just another practical left brain decision built entirely around the news cycle.

Travel: Journalists won’t travel on Sundays, a non working day, for an event or presentation on Monday.
Weeklies: While a blog or website only needs moments to distribute the news, the longest lead time of any publication that can still be considered timely is the weekly. And the Print cycle for most weeklies is run such that Wednesday or Thursday is not always enough time for the weeklies to get the news in print.
Analysts: Analyst briefings are usually set the day before the news, minimizing time for info to leak out.
Set Up: The Apple event team has an extra last minute working day to set up their event.
It’s PR 101: Apparently, most companies aim for Tuesday as an important day to break news for all the reasons above. It’s just that most companies don’t get noticed for this, because their news isn’t received by millions of cultists.

I’m still not sure when this pattern started, but Woz said that the tradition started after his time at Apple, and if I had to guess, would keep going far after print news is gone. I mean, why mess with tradition?

[Thanks to the ex Apple PR folks, as well as Leander Kahney of Cult of Mac for this information (and Woz for being Fuzzy and Nice)]

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